You cannot delegate your personal safety or preparedness. YOU are responsible. Accept The Challenge to prepare yourself - and your loved ones - for any threat or emergency that may come your way.

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Sunday, February 19, 2017

Dried Teats and Side Hustles

I was in my store a couple of days ago, and this man and woman with British accents come in. The guy's accent was so thick, the employee I was working with couldn't understand him!

So, he wants to know if we've got any foreign currency or foreign coins for sale. Sure do.

I give him the box of currency, and as he's going through it, we start up a conversation. It seems that this fellow - probably in his mid 60's - has an Australian eBay account. He and his wife travel around the world, picking up things he can sell on his site. On this trip, they're going to be in The States for 5 weeks.

And he writes his whole trip off as a business expense.

He's been doing this his entire adult life, ("I was never cut out for a proper job"). He cobbles together a project, makes some bucks, and does it again. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

We talked about the importance of "buying right" - you make your money on the purchase of the goods, not when you sell them.

When we buy something we will be selling on eBay, for instance, we always buy them at at least 30% below the price we believe the item will sell. That 30% covers our roughly 10% cost of sale between eBay fees and Paypal fees, and a 20% profit.

When we buy something to sell in the store, it will depend on how long we think it will take to sell. Gold and silver bullion turn over quickly, so our margins are smaller. Jewelry, graded coins or collectibles can take months to sell, so the margins are much higher.

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I'm getting on my high horse again to implore folks to work on establishing Multiple Streams Of Income. I honestly can't put my finger on it, but it seems like there's a, "disturbance in the force" and things are going to slide sideways.

Maybe it's this "protesting" crap (rioting, actually). Is it going to turn into some serious shit, or will it pass? Maybe it's the tenor of the conversations I have with customers that come to the store. The majority are Trump supporters, or at least not Trump haters, and their buying decisions are about how much precious metals to buy vs ammo.

Now, I don't want to hear any whining. But, but, but, CHIEF, I just don't have the time/money/inclination to do this!!

Well then, I hope you like living off of the dwindling government teat. Just remember, there are a whole lot of people in front of you - the professional "lifer" teat suckers - who know how to get their squirt of milk before you.

Think like a rich guy. You don't have to make a zillion dollars, but the lessons of the rich are awesome studies for all of us.

A great quote from the article -

You can't create the future you deserve while obsessed with the past you resent. Super wealthy people don't waste time focused on the past; they invest time, energy and effort in producing products and services that people want and need.

They don't contribute to the problems of society. They solve problems for society.

YOU are responsible for your lot in life. No one else. Tag, you're it.

See Rule #2 in particular.

So as not to leave you hanging for ideas, The Art of Manliness website had a great article titled, "Be Your Own Boss: 37 Side Hustle Ideas". I guess, "Side Hustles" is what the cool kids call Multiple Streams of Income,

The article includes a link to a two-part guide on some of the ways for getting off of your ass and doing something about it.

I'll also recommend a documentary movie on Netflix titled, "Capital C" (YouTube trailer). It's about crowdfunding - coming up with an idea or product, and getting people to pre-pay or fund your product or service. What a great way to do real-life market research for a product (HINT HINT). If you don't get funding, you're only out the time and money it took to set up the crowdfunding page and video. You will know in a relatively short period of time if there's an actual market for your product.

Just do something. How would you cope if your primary source of income - from a job, government pension, IRA or whatever - were to go away? Cover your bases and keep a couple of lines in the water. You never know what you might catch.

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